Home prices surpass pre-recession peak

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The Hill:

U.S. home prices in September surpassed a pre-recession peak hit more than 10 years ago after falling sharply during the housing crisis.

 

The Standard & Poor's CoreLogic Case-Shiller rose 5.5 percent in September from a year ago, boosting the home price index to 0.1 percent above the July 2006 record high.

 

After nearly six years, prices hit their trough in February 2012, dropping more than 27 percent from their high.

"The new peak set by the S&P Case-Shiller CoreLogic national index will be seen as marking a shift from the housing recovery to the hoped-for start of a new advance," said David Blitzer, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

 

Since then, the housing market has been gradually recovering behind steady job growth and low mortgage rates.

 

Yet the market is still struggling to overcome low inventory and lack of credit availability.